[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcyLDamvAVI]
Today’s dirty little secret is that not all doctors or medical professionals are created equal. Often times we have an injured employee and we are not sure what to do with them at that point so we send them off to get some treatment. We find that many times the employee will go straight to the Emergency Room for treatment that could certainly be handled elsewhere. What is the problem with sending someone to the Emergency Room? Well the problem is that emergency room doctors have been trained to see you, diagnose you, treat you and get you out of the emergency room as quickly as possible so they can move on to the next emergency. This does not make them bad medical professionals; it actually makes them very good at what they do. It doesn’t play will with occupational medicine and occupational injuries.
Often times what we see happen is an injured employee will be prescribed a bottle of narcotics like a Percocet or Vicadin or something along these lines along with a weeks rest. In these situations, an employee gets sent home to take narcotics and sit on the couch. At this point some bad things really can happen. Employees can fall into a state of mild or severe depression which can be exacerbated by the narcotics which they are taking. This just isn’t the best solution for an occupational injury. Employees trust their primary care physicians and many have done so for many years. These individuals can be great doctors but they lack the training in occupational medicine. Many times the behavior recommended to injured employees by their primary care physician is one of rest with one or several restrictions on activities. Many studies have shown that it is far more therapeutic to get an employee back to work as quickly as possible even if it is in a reduced capacity of time, activity or both.
We recommend that you partner with an occupational health clinic that knows occupational medicine and understands what is best for your employee when they do have an occupational injury. If you are looking for some help partnering with an occupational clinicians call our office and we will be happy to help.
If you missed part 3 you can see it HERE
